In a liquid crystal display (LCD), a backlight control circuit is used which controls LEDs to illuminate from the back side of an LCD screen, so that a user can observe an image from the front side of the LCD screen.
In early days, LED backlight is used only in a small size screen, which does not require high backlight brightness. Therefore, the LEDs can be connected all in series or all in parallel. FIG. 1 shows a prior art circuit wherein all LEDs are connected in series. As shown in the figure, a backlight control circuit 10 comprises a voltage supply circuit 11 converting an input voltage Vin to an output voltage Vout which is supplied to a plurality of LEDs L1-LN connected in series. A resistor R is provided on a path of the LEDs connected in series, and a voltage at a node Vsense1 is compared with a reference voltage Vref to check whether a current through the path satisfies a predetermined condition. If the current is lower than a predetermined value and the voltage at the node Vsense1 decreases, an error amplifier circuit 13 sends a signal 15 to the voltage supply circuit 11 to pull up the output voltage Vout, so that the current flowing through the LEDs increases. Moreover, to prevent the voltage supply circuit 11 from unlimitedly increasing the output voltage Vout (for example, when the error amplifier circuit 13 malfunctions, or when the path of the LEDs is open), an over voltage protection circuit 12 is provided in the backlight control circuit 10, which detects the output voltage Vout and sends a signal to stop the voltage supply circuit 11 from increasing the output voltage Vout if the output voltage Vout is excessively high. (Depending on circuit design, the voltage supply can be totally stopped, or kept at an upper limit value. The latter is more popular in a backlight control circuit.)
FIG. 2 shows a typical structure of an over voltage protection circuit 12, wherein the output voltage Vout is monitored by comparing the voltage at the node Vsense2 with a reference voltage Vovp. The result of comparison determines a signal for controlling the voltage supply circuit 11.
The above arrangement wherein all LEDs are connected in series has several drawbacks. An obvious drawback is that, due to series connection, if one LED shuts down, all the other LEDs are shut down; the LCD will be in complete darkness.
Referring to FIG. 3, it shows a conventional backlight control circuit with LEDs all connected in parallel. As shown in the figure, in a backlight control circuit 20, the currents passing through LEDs L1-LN are respectively controlled by the current sources CS1-CSN. The backlight control circuit 20 comprises a lowest voltage selection circuit 21 (Lowest V. Sel. Ckt.) which chooses a lowest voltage value among all voltages at cathode ends of the LEDs L1-LN, and the error amplifier circuit 13 compares the lowest voltage value with a reference voltage to generate a signal controlling the voltage supply circuit 11. Thus, the output voltage Vout is under control so that all current source circuits are provided with sufficient operating voltage for normal operation, and all LEDs can illuminate normally thereby.
Similarly, the backlight control circuit 20 can further comprise an over voltage protection circuit 12 as the one described above.
In the arrangement where all LEDs are connected in parallel, although an over voltage protection circuit or other means can be employed (for example the under current detection circuits as described in a co-pending patent application filed by the same assignee on the same filing date under the same title) to prevent the overall circuit from completely shut down because of one or a few inoperative LEDs, the overall brightness of the LCD still drops. Besides, as the size of the LCD screen becomes larger which requires higher backlight brightness, a series-parallel connection circuit as shown in FIG. 4 is probably used to increase the number of LEDs to be connected. In this arrangement, if one of the LED paths is inoperative, the backlight brightness will drop more severely.
Thus, a backlight control circuit with low backlight brightness variation when some of the LEDs do not properly operate, is desired.